Citroen XM Forum

Bit of a strange/dangerous update tonight...

Tyres are something that I have never scrimped on in my life. I always had it drummed into me that you get what you pay for and as tyres are the only thing between you and the road, get good ones.

Everything I've owned has always been shod in Michelins until recently when we put two Pirelli P Zero Nero GT's on our 207 GT when we got the car. When it had two new tyres the other month we put Michelin Pilot Sport 3's on the back as they were more readily available then the Pirelli's. The Pirelli's initially performed incredibly well and I had no complaints about them what so ever so I put a full set on the 407 Coupe as well.

Tonight I got a phone call from Cheryl saying that her tyre looked a little odd and it had "little wire like things" sticking out of the sidewall. She got home and I had a look at the tyre she was talking about and was absolutely mortified to see what she was talking about...

This tyre still has about 4mm of tread left on it and has done about 18k - 20k of motorway miles. We live just west of Glasgow and Cheryl commutes to Edinburgh and back every day so it's doing about 110 miles a day of motorway driving at 70 with the cruise control on so it's had a fairly easy life. When we put these tyres on initially I also reinstated the TPMS system on the car so I know these tyres haven't been run short of pressure...









The tread has started to part with the tyre in several places. To say that I'm not impressed is an understatement as this could of been lethal had it come apart on the motorway. I've never seen a premium brand tyre do this before. This is one reason I'd never trust remoulded tyres, but is not something I'd ever expect from a brand like Pirelli.

Needless to say it's two Michelins I've ordered tonight and I won't be buying Pirelli's ever again. I'll also be watching the ones on the 407 like a hawk from now on.

Will be writing to Pirelli UK as well.

David.

They are not called Sepirellis for nothing. About 10-15 years ago they were standard equipment on Jaguar, and this sort of failure was very common.

I've never liked Pirellis, although for wet handling reasons rather than the above, which is quite alarming. Perhaps they were Formula 1 leftovers?!

Michelin PS3s on the other hand are my absolute choice on any performance car I've had, great performance, wet handling, longevity and comfort.

These were the first tyres that I've bought in years that weren't Michelin. The garage happened to have them in stock the afternoon we needed them before a trip to Manchester. A quick read of the reviews on my phone suggested they were good tyres so I bought two. What's really annoying is if we hadn't of needed Cheryl's car to go down south when we were I'd of ordered the Michelin's online rather then buying the Pirelli's from the local guy.

The wet grip, road noise, handling etc off the Pirelli's was very good. They were on the front so they were quite easy to gauge the feel of straight away.

When looking for 407 Coupe tyres the Michelin Pilot Sport 3's were £200 a tyre whereas the Pirelli P Zero Nero GT's were £153 a corner so I bought a set of 4 of Pirelli's thinking that as I was pleased with the ones on the 207 it was hard to justify an extra £200 on the bill for a set of tyres. Again, I was impressed with them when fitted from new but this has scared the bejesus out of me! I certainly won't be buying anything other then the Michelin's again.

I've just ordered two Michelin Pilot Sport 3's from my tyres so hopefully they'll be delivered quickly and I can get it with 4 tyres that I trust on it and know that Cheryl is safe driving to Edinburgh and back daily. The two tyres on the back are Michelin Pilot Sport 3's and they are superb. The rear end grip was instantly better then it was with the hankooks on it when we got it. When they needed replaced I had the luxury of waiting a couple of days so I bought them from my tyres and fitted and balanced them myself.

I do agree though, Charles. The Michelin Pilot Sports, especially the newer 3 version of it are superb and I now wouldn't put anything else on any of our cars.

The 207 that the tyres are on I am really impressed with though. It's a 1.6 HDi with 110bhp. Goes really well when you want it to and with the 205/45/17 tyres on it, it grips really well too. It's also AVERAGING 61mpg when Cheryl is travelling from Paisley to Edinburgh and back daily.

David.

My philosophy has been just the opposite, mainly due to lack of money I have always used the cheapest tyres that I could get, that's been getting on for 60 years and well over a million miles. In the early years there were no tyre laws (or speed limit) so you used them until the cords showed, you will be pleased to know I don't do that now but I still use budget tyres and have had no problems. The reason I am posting this is that the last XM I bought about 4 or 5 years ago had a pair of new Firestones on the front which I was pleased about, but the car always pulled to the right, I could find no mechanical reason for this and so put up with it. When the Firestones wore out and I replaced one with a cheap tyre, the car steered straight and has ever since.

Peter

One of the Pirelli P600 that were on My Merc did a similar tread delamination. I thought the wheel was out of balance but when it was removed the split was on the inner side of the tread and a section was lifting off.

Always Michelin for me.

Wow..this is good to know. That is shocking David. Glad nothing happened.
I will be changing to michelins or the brand Jim likes that are michelins by another name, next time round....which hopefully might be next spring, as I will have a very good excuse....

No brand are Michelins by another name. The brand may be owned by michelin, the the tyres won't be the same.

Ah...my mistake...I think the other brand which is owned by Michelin is BFGoodrich....what I was thinking of. No idea if they are any good.
You would hope some of Michelins expertise would have rubbed off on them.

russ92xmsed wrote:I think the other brand which is owned by Michelin is BFGoodrich....

Indeed they are the budget brand of Michelin Russ. Been using them for years on various cars and I rate them very highly. My XM is fully shod with them ias is the front of my V6 Xantia. Remaining wheels have Michelin Energys on them. Only brands I've used for years and years now.